Eingestellte DIW Publikationen 4 / 1970, S. 264-278
Siegfried Schultz
The effective allocation of development assistance as well as the determination of sectoral priorities in national planning of developing countries necessitates an empirical identification of key sectors. It is the purpose of this paper to compile and exemplify quantitative measures while keeping this object in view. ln focusing on structural interdependence of production, four methods - all operating on the basis of input-output data, but differing in approach and scope - are presented: Intermediate transactions vs. total production and demand (I), relative dispersion (II), alternative extraction of sectors (III), and triangulation of matrices (IV). The numerical values of the different indicators, single or combined, are translated into an ordinal sequence reflecting the sectoral hierarchy required to determine the relative importance of individual sectors in terms of (the intensity of) their linkages to others. This ranking, still subject to possible modification by weighting or further combining-and therefore preliminary, is supposed to serve as an operational device indicating crucial points for future sectoral policy.